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KU's Devonte' Graham leaning on former Jayhawk in first weeks on campus

Freshman guard expected to compete for starting point guard spot in fall

Kansas guard Devonte' Graham has been learning the tricks of the trade from former KU stars.

LAWRENCE — Freshman point guard Devonte’ Graham is learning some early lessons during his first few weeks on Kansas’ campus.

“Just to be tough. Mentally and physically, you’ve got to be tough,” Graham said Monday at Cole Aldrich’s basketball camp in Lawrence. “Coming from high school to college is a big jump.”

The 6-foot-2 Graham is expected to immediately compete for guard minutes with sophomores Conner Frankamp and Frank Mason next season.

Still, it’s early enough now that he’s still just in the process of getting down the basics.

“The fun thing is, it’s so hard to evaluate a kid when they’ve been here for a whole month maybe. At six weeks, it’s tough,” Aldrich said. “Coach (Bill) Self can’t do all the teaching that he’s going to do during the season. The scenarios in pickup games are a little different than they are in Big 12 play.

“(Devonte’s) going to be good though. It’s fun to see a good guard with an open mind come in and just have fun.”

On Sunday night, Graham played pickup basketball with Aldrich, posting a 6-2 record while playing with the former KU big man.

“I think he’ll be a good leader,” Aldrich said of Graham. “It’s going to take some time for him to feel comfortable with the guys like, ‘Hey, we’re setting the offense up. You get there. You get there. Come off the screen.’ I think he’s going to have that trait, though.”

Graham also has been receiving plenty of assistance from one of Aldrich’s former teammates at KU: Elijah Johnson.

The former KU point guard has been helping Graham learn some tricks of the trade on the defensive end. That’s included pointers on how to play helpside defense, double-team bigs inside and trap players.

“He’s a point guard. He played. He knows the game,” Graham said. “He’s trying to help me out, because he knows that I kind of look up to him as a guard.”

OTHER STANDOUTS — Aldrich was asked if any other current KU players had caught his attention during summer pickup games.

“It’s the summertime where you just come in, you get some work in, you talk a little crap to each other and have that competitive nature in us, and then you go home and are friends at the end of the night.”

NEXT FOR ALDRICH — Aldrich, who averaged 2.0 points and 2.8 rebounds in 46 games for the New York Knicks a year ago, will head to Las Vegas on Wednesday to play in NBA summer league games.

Aldrich, who is a free agent, said he sent a text to Derek Fisher after he was named the new coach of the Knicks this offseason. The two played together as members of the Oklahoma City Thunder during the 2011-12 season.

Aldrich said he definitely wouldn’t mind reuniting with the Knicks if things worked out that way.

“You spend a full year someplace, and you invest that time and that energy,” Aldrich said. “We really enjoyed it, and the guys on the team were fun. … We’ll see what happens coming up.”